You're a Dancer Now
by Florence
Summary: This is an other point of view on Jody's class. It's about Anna's british room-mate who has left her family an boyfriend in London to try her luck at ABA. Home-sickness, love, dance, friendship and fierce competition are the elements of this story.
1. The Beginning

You're a Dancer Now by Florence  
  
/* Janet Jackson - If */  
  
  
  
Chapter 1, No turning back.  
  
/* A/N: This is my first fanfic, so I bet I need serious advice from you all. Plus, english is not my first language so feel free to comment on grammar, spelling etc. I would especially like advise on how to make Maria speak British and the americans American. I hope you like the story though, it has a lot of dance in it, I love dancing my self you see, but I'll try not to get too much ballet talk in it and maybe I'll add some romance (but I won't tell you who yet...). Love to y'all, Florence.  
  
Disclaimer: Any characters, places and such don't belong to me but to those who own center stage so don't sue me, I'll never make any money from writing this. */  
  
/* Massive Attack - Heat Miser */  
  
I looked out the window. I saw a couple of small, white clouds beneath me and through them I saw the dark, blue sea. I sat back in my chair and tried to get some sleep, it was going to be a long flight. I'd only flown once before and that had only been a little airplane hired for my birthday. This was completely different. It was a huge aircraft and even so I felt trapped. I was on my way to the states and New York, leaving my safe home in a London suburb behind me. My family was still there and I wouldn't meet them for almost a year. I wouldn't even be home for Christmas and my wonderful boyfriend Martin was also in England. I would miss them so much, but they had all persuaded me to go. It was, after all, a chance of a lifetime. I had been accepted to ABA, American Ballet Academy, and I just couldn't turn it down. I loved dancing more than anything, but at first I was so scared to leave home that I seriously considered turing down the offer. I had such a nice life and could have danced in London instead and I knew how much I would miss my family. They had to convince me that they wanted me go and that I shouldn't be a coward, and when Martin told me the same thing, I gave in, and here I was, scared to death, on my way to New York. I grabbed my left leg and propped it up against the window to stretch. I was horribly stiff, I hadn't been able to take any classes all summer since we couldn't afford them, and even if I had tried to stay in shape, it hadn't gone too well. I picked up my photo of Martin, I was going to miss him so much, but now there was no turning back, I was heading for New York.  
  
I jumped out off the cab and the driver helped me get all my bags out of the car. All the way from the airport I'd been fascinated by the huge buildings, all the traffic and all the people, and now I was finally here, ABA. It was quite a big building and there were tons of people who all seemed to be heading somewhere. I just stood there, amazed by the complex and everything around me.  
  
"Hello, are you new here?" a soft voice asked. I turned around and saw a slim girl with blonde hair in a bun.  
  
"Yes, I'm from England." I replied and smiled at her.  
  
"I'm Anna", she said and shook my hand. "would you like some help finding your way around here? It can be pretty tricky in the beginning."  
  
"Yes please, I'm Maria by the way." I said, happy to find someone who could show me where to go. She showed me to the front desk and I was given a few keys and my room number, 902C.  
  
"Great, you'll be rooming with me and Aesha" Anna said and smiled. "Come on, I'll show you the way." She picked up one of my bags and headed for the elevators. The room turned out to be pretty small, but that was no problem since I was used to that. There wes a bunk bed and an ordinary bed.  
  
"Which one is mine?" I asked timidly and Anna pointed at the top bunk.  
  
"Great, I love that."  
  
"Good, and here's your wardrobe, it's not very big though." At that moment a tall girl with brown hair came into the room. She smiled politely.  
  
"Hey, you're Maria?, I'm Aesha, oh, and that's a lovely sweater you're wearing, could I borrow it some time?"  
  
"Sure, thanks", I said. "But, it does need a wash. All my stuff have an awful smell from the flight."  
  
"Yeah, mine too, I had to fly from Los Angeles." Aesha said, "Well, we have to be at class in two hours, so we should get our stuff unpacked and make this place a bit more like home."  
  
*********  
  
Anna and I went to class half an hour early to warm up. I was so excited and a bit nervous too, I was going to dance, but suddenly I got a bit scared. What if everyone was much better than me? Well, I had to do my best anyway, I was here to learn, not to be the best. The studio turned out to be much bigger than I was used to and it had windows looking out over a busy New York street. It was a bright room and the floor was perfect. Not too hard, not too slippy, just great. I sat down in a corner and pinned my hair into a bun. I did a few relevés and stretched before I put my pointe shoes on. They were pretty old and worn out and I really needed a new pair, but I didn't have the money, so I had to do my best anyway. My thoughts and warm up were interrupted by the teachers and the director, Jonathan Reeves, entering the room. Mr. Reeves had a nice, long speech and everyone seemed to listen very keenly. I did too, even though I was a bit restless because I couldn't wait to be dancing again. When he finally finished, a girl entered the studio, late. How rude, I thought, and she didn't even apologize. Anyway, class started at last. The teacher, Juliette Simone, seemed really nice, and even though she didn't really move with perfect grace she commented everyone and I liked that. When I started dancing I had a really hard time when people told me I did something wrong, but now I'd gotten used to it and actually got a bit offended when I didn't get comments. I needed the help and I knew that. We started off with pliés as usual. It was pretty simple, but when we did our port de bras I felt a bit stiff. Well, it'll be back to normal in a while, I thought. I was standing behind Anna. Anna seemed to move ever so gracefully and I tried to figure out how she did it. Juliette showed the next exercise, tendus and jetés.  
  
"5th position. Four tendus effacé en avant, four croisé en arrière and then four de cote. One double tendu, finish demi plié en avant then we do a full soutenu en dedans. Five battement tendu jetés on half beat en avant, flic- flac en dedans, five en arrière, flic-flac en dehors. Then five de coté, flic-flac, and repeat, but this time, flic-flac en dehors and finish with seven en croix. Allright? Music please." I was relieved, I could do this.  
  
"Focus ladies, point your toes and keep you supporting leg straight. Accentuate the music. It's not just a routine job. Make it look exiting!" Juliette said walking around the studio. She soon came to my barre and I got a bit nervous, what if I messed up completely?  
  
"Who are you, dear?" she asked.  
  
"Maria Smith, miss." I said, working hard on my jetés.  
  
"Good, good accentuation, but you have to lift up your elbow a bit and your fingers are way to tense." She said and moved on. I tried relaxing my fingers a bit and tried to copy Anna, who'd gotten nothing but excellent remarks from Juliette. It was so fantastic to dance again. 


	2. Settling in

You're a Dancer Now by Florence  
  
/* Janet Jackson - If */  
  
Chapter 2, Settling In.  
  
/* LL Cool J - Luv you better */  
  
Class was over much too soon and since it was our first day we had no classes until next day. I felt that I had done okay. At least I hadn't done any fatal mistakes, I thought as I sat stretching and chatting with the other girls. The girl who had been late, Eva Rodriguez, was actually an amazing dancer and even though everybody were really good dancers, it was clear that some were a bit sharper than the rest. Maureen, a very slim dancer with dark, brown hair in a perfect bun, was obviously a teachers pet, and Anna was also really good. I smiled and thought about how great it was to be among all these talented ballerinas. I could learn so much. Everything was so great, but I just remembered that I had a problem, I didn't have more than one leotard and it was terribly plain and I'd used it for quite a while. Most of the girls had tons of pretty leos and other stuff. My shoes were a disgrace, but that problem would be solved faster than I could imagine. Juliette Simone called my name and asked if she could talk to me for a while. First, I was scared that she'd kick me out or something, but I realised that that wasn't realistic, they would't kick any one out after just one day.  
  
"Maria, I see your shoes are very worn out, you'd better get a new pair."  
  
"Yes, I know, but, well, I can't afford them..." I was terribly embarrassed.  
  
"Maria you don't have pay for them, you can get new pairs in a store just a few blocks away, show your key to the main entrance and they'll put it on our bill. The adress is in the folder you got when you arrived. We want all our students to be able to dance thier best, even if they can't afford it on their own. That's why we have scholarships. Now dear, I have an other class in a few minutes so I'll see you tomorrow.", she said briskly.  
  
"Thank you, miss." I said and hurried away so I could catch up with Aesha and a few others heading for the cafeteria.  
  
***********  
  
After a light dinner, I decided to get a new pair of shoes so I could start working properly tomorrow, and when I read the folder we'd gotten, I found out that I also could buy other dance clothes as well. I was so relieved. Everything would work out just fine. Anna came by and asked what I was doing.  
  
"Oh, I was just going to buy some new dance shoes and stuff, wanna come?"  
  
"That would be nice, but I have to practice a bit. I feel a bit out of shape since summer and all.", she said."But, I think Jenni needed some stuff, you should ask her."  
  
"Great, thank you. Jenni was the blonde we met at lunch right?"  
  
"Yeah, you got it, she's in the room next to ours. Have fun." Anna said sweetly and smiled as she left. I went up to my new room to get my wallet and then joined Jenni on the way to the dance shop.  
  
/* India Arie - Always in my head */  
  
I climbed up on my bed and pulled my new pointe shoes, a pair of Grishko Fouette's out of my bag. I'd decided to try a new kind now that I could afford them and I couldn't believe how well they'd fit (to be pointe shoes that is.). I resolved on finishing sewing my new shoes today so I could wear them tomorrow. Sewing on the ribbons and darning new shoes wasn't exactly my favorite way to spend my time, but in a way it was soothing. I smiled, I still couldn't believe that I was here, in New York. On my wall there were photos of my mum and dad and, of course, Martin. I didn't miss them quite yet. There was so much to become familiar with and a lot going on. I felt a twinge of guilt as I realised that I hadn't had much time to think about them at all. I made up my mind to write a letter for Martin as soon as I was done with my shoes.  
  
  
  
"Hi there, you found what you wanted?" Anna asked as she came back to the room from her practice.  
  
"Yes, it's so great. There was so much stuff, I didn't know what to choose." I answered her and looked down at my new shoes to make sure the needle didn't slip. Anna dumped her bag on her bed and fetched a towel from the wardrobe.  
  
"That's N.Y. for you. I'm just going to have a quick shower, I'm soaked. I hate being out of shape. See you later, allright?", she said.  
  
"Allright. " I said and returned to my shoes. Anna was so good and obviously a hard worker. Suddenly I felt an urge to go and practice myself. I was in a terrible need of getting back into shape and I wanted to work on some of the diagonals we had done today. Even if I couldn't be the best I wanted to make sure that I still did my best.  
  
I finished preparing my shoes and decided to write to Martin tomorrow instead. I needed to work on my dancing and besides, my shoes needed breaking in. 


	3. Evening

You're a Dancer Now  
  
by Florence  
  
/* Janet Jackson - If */  
  
Chapter 3, Evening.  
  
/* A/N: Here's another chapter for you. It's quite short, but it'll have to do, I'm not the best writer so I didn't know what more to write in this chapter. Thanks to hoopla for reviewing, I didn't think anyone read my story so it was really nice to get such a sweet review. Now, time for you all to read...  
  
Disclaimer: Any characters, places and such don't belong to me but to those who own center stage so don't sue me, I'll never make any money from writing this. */  
  
  
  
/* Aaliyah - Rock the Boat */  
  
I carefully opened the door to studio 8. It was empty so I went in and sat down on the sprung floor. This studio was smaller than the one we'd danced in earlier that day, but it was by no means too small. I softened my shoes a bit before putting them on. They felt different from my old Bloch Suprima's. I placed one hand on the barre and did some simple warm-up excercises for my feet and legs, before proceeding out on the floor. I did a couple of echappés to get used to my new shoes. They were wonderful and fitted like a glove to my feet. It felt so much easier to dance in them and I felt them supporting my feet just enough. I went to a corner of the room and marked through one of the diagonals.  
  
Just as I was getting a grip over the combination the door opened and a guy entered. I thought I recognised him from the director's speech earlier today.  
  
"Hello.", he said "Mind if I join you?"  
  
"Not at all." I said timidly and smiled carefully. "Aren't you in my class?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm Paul. " he smiled and shook my hand.  
  
"I am Maria."  
  
"So, you're from England I guess. How do you like New York?" Paul asked as he began to warm up.  
  
"It's different, but so far it has been nice. How about you? Where are you from?"  
  
"Oh, I'm from Texas, but I've lived here since I was 10 or something so this feels much more like home"  
  
"That's marvelous, you must be so good. "  
  
"Nah, " he replied with a smirk. "I haven't got any natural talent. The only reason I've managed to stay here this long and not get kicked out is that I work and practice like hell every day. It doesn't bother me. I love this and I know I'll get a job somewhere, even if it's not the ABC."  
  
"Yes, I guess so. Does everyone here practice after school every day?" I asked, a bit surprised and a bit happy at his indifference. "My room-mate Anna also practices."  
  
"Well, that's Anna for ya'. She's always been good and that's a girl with real talent. She works hard anyway. I guarantee you she'll make the company. Jonathan loves her. Well, back to your question. Most people work extra, but not everyday, you need to rest sometimes, not me though, but you get the picture right." Paul smiled pleasantly and we returned to our practice.  
  
**********  
  
I lay in my bed looking at the ceiling. I'd had a shower and even if it was only 9 o'clock I was so tired that I had decided to go to sleep early. My muscles were already a bit sore, but it felt good to be back to dance. Tomorrow would be a tough day. I kissed my photo of Martin and closed my weary eyes. 


End file.
